Tomographic volumes are created from line integral measurements of an unknown object at a variety of orientations. These line integral measurements, which may represent measurements of density, reflectivity, etc., are then processed to yield a volume that represents the unknown object. Data generated in this manner is collected into a sinogram, and the sinogram is processed and backprojected to create two-dimensional images or three-dimensional volumes.
The process of backprojection of three-dimensional (3D) Radon transform data is a key step in the reconstruction of volumes from tomographic data. The 3D Radon transform underlies a number of existing and emerging technologies, such as Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), volumetric Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), cone-beam X-ray tomography, etc. The backprojection step is intensive from a computation standpoint, and slow. Thus, there is a need for methods for backprojecting 3D Radon data which are less costly and less time consuming.
Accordingly, one object of this invention is to provide new and improved imaging methods.
Another object is to provide new and improved methods for backprojecting 3D volume data.
Still another object is to provide new and improved methods for backprojecting 3D volume data which are less costly in terms of hardware and computational expense, and faster than known methods.